Chester FC crisis - A year on
These are the most testing times in Chester FC 's short history.
The revelation at the City Fans United (CFU) meeting that the club must find £50,000 in the short term to survive shocked supporters to the core.
But out of a very bad situation has come good.
Fans are rallying around and the confirmation this morning that nearly £20,000 has been raised in the space of four days has done much to lift the spirits.
So will the fact that Grenville Millington has got on board.
There are not many bigger Blues legends than Millington. That was underlined by the results of a recent Chronicle poll .
The goalkeeping great played a key role in helping Chester FC get off the ground eight years ago.
And the former CFU chairman is now doing what he can to ensure the fan-owned club emerges from the financial predicament it has got itself into.
On Tuesday, February 20, before the home game with Leyton Orient (7.45pm kick-off), the 66-year-old will do a sponsored walk from Wrexham to Chester.
Millington said: "It's not about me or you, it's not about the players, it's about the parents who take their young child to the ground for the first time, and they walk toward the players' entrance, and they get to the side of the pitch, and the young child is gawping at the pitch and at the stands, and without them knowing it, and without them being able to do anything about it, they have fallen in love.
"For the next 60 years they will be supporting Chester Football Club. Some of us have been in their shoes - and we're still in them. So we're doing this for the young children that are still to come. We've got to make sure there is still a club there for them.
"Of course we want the team to be safe from relegation, of course we do, but we want to save this club for your grandchildren, my grandchildren and everybody else's grandchildren. Once they go and see this club, they will fall in love."
Millington will be joined on the walk by Blues fan and former director Ed Jones.
Jones, who is part of the new fundraising working group set up by the CFU, is an experienced walker and fundraiser.
Last year he completed the 8 Peaks Challenge in the Lake District to honour the memory of fellow supporter Garry Allen, who tragically lost his life before the club's home game with Tranmere last season, and then the Great Wall of China Trek in aid of the Alzheimer's Society after his father was diagnosed with the disease.
But Millington, who keeps in shape by playing golf twice a week at Padeswood & Buckley, said: "Ed told me the challenge of walking the Great Wall of China was big but I've told him that's nothing compared to walking the A483 with me from Wrexham to Chester!
"I've asked him whether he's got all his first aid certificates - I want to make sure he's fully qualified!
"He's thinking of starting at 3 o' clock on the Tuesday but I'm thinking of starting at 3 o' clock on the Sunday as I don't want the match being delayed waiting for me!
"We're going to be walking with a smile on our faces and I'll be telling him about Newcastle away, Leeds at home, the wall collapsing at Luton, Bob Delgado and Trevor Storton... and how we're going to save the football club!"
The duo are hoping to raise £1,000. You can donate HERE .
Millington added: "I'm going to the Senior Blues meeting on Friday and then a Former Players Association meeting next week where I'll spread the word.
"I'll also be walking around Chester proudly with my Chester shirt on hoping that one or two people may come up to me and say, 'are you Grenville Millington?'
"If they do, I'll get them to sponsor us!"
